Lockheed Martin's autonomous convoy tests bring Skynet one step closer to reality
Drones delivering your latest George R.R Martin instalment? Cute. But the real work of autonomous vehicles is being pioneered in the military. Lockheed Martin has recently completed testing of full autonomous convoys in Fort Hood, Texas. The test is part of the Army and Marine Corps' Autonomous Mobility Appliqué System (AMAS) program, and saw vehicles successfully navigate an urban-style route, complete with obstacles a real-world convoy might encounter (humans, junctions etc). While regular military vehicles have always been designed to keep their human cargo as safe as possible, the new technology could remove the need for putting soldiers at risk altogether. We're a way out from seeing this deployed in active service, but for now the results bolster the US Army's efforts to introduce more robotic systems into real warfare.
